$ 32M gift earmarked for McMaster U’s biomedical and global health weapons – Hamilton | The Canadian News

A successful US-based ophthalmologist and entrepreneur makes one of the largest gift donations in McMaster University’s history to boost the aftercare’s biomedical and global health units.

More than $ 32 million comes from Marnix Heersink, a doctor and businessman from Alabama, to create a school of biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship in his name.

“I think McMaster is the perfect place to make this donation because of its well-deserved reputation in innovative healthcare education and research,” Heersink said in a release.

“Healthcare, innovation and entrepreneurship go hand in hand. We saw McMaster encourage this trend and I was inspired. ”

Heersink was born in the Netherlands, but grew up in Burlington, Ont. After graduating as a physician, he moved to Alabama, where he had a successful career as an ophthalmologist and business leader.

Part of the money was also earmarked for a department that will investigate threats to global health, such as pandemics and the climate crisis. The center will become the Mary Heersink Center for Global Health, named after his wife, a food security writer and advocate.

She is also a founding member of the International Advisory Board for McMaster’s Global Health Graduate Program.

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“We are very grateful for this great gift from Marnix and Mary Heersink, which will enable us to confirm the link between cutting-edge biomedical science and entrepreneurial activity, helping McMaster to lay the foundation for a new innovation ecosystem here. in Hamilton, “David Farrar, president of McMaster, said in a statement.

The upcoming new school will be based at the Michael G. DeGroote Center for Learning and Discovery on McMaster’s main campus.

In the future, it will be housed in a new purpose-built building, as part of the development of Canada’s Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats.

The McMaster donation comes from the heels of an estimated $ 120 million donation from the Heersinks to the University of Alabama School of Medicine in 2021.

A 2003 donation of just over $ 100 million from billionaire Michael G. DeGroote, founder of Laidlaw Transportation, is the largest cash gift McMaster has ever received.